Improvement in mechanisms for forming bats for boots, shoes, hats



S. n @www h 0l S wm D #M w H E 0 e .0 n A V W n .m n@ d \w\ z WFM m NAW@f7 Aw .w Kgsp. .I o.,. .u y Imm I E .r f r 7 0&0 .hr. 6 AP l .0

8 .AM 7,1m s 1 .t .m M Q E W M 2 E. 5 0 O 1 m N n:

UNITED 'STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED A. HAWLEY, OF MERRIMAOK, AND ROBERT B. HAWLEY, OF AMES- BURY,ASSIGNORS TO MERINO SHOE COMPANY, OF MERRIMAOK AND BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN MECHANlSMS FOR FORMING BATS FOR BOOTS, SHOES, HATS, &c.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 204,665, dated June 1l,1878; application filed March 29, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that We, ALFRED A. HAWLEY, of Merrimack, and ROBERT B.HAWLEY, of Amesbury, both in Essex county, State of Massachusetts, haveinvented an Improvement in Mechanism for 1Forming .-Bats for Boots,Shoes, Hats, or Head-Coverings, of which the following is aspecification:

This invention relates to meohan ism to form bats for boots and shoesand hats or headcoverings, whereby much of the shape to be given to thecompleted article is given to the bat, whereby the article made fromsuch bat better retainsits shape, and the now commonlypracticed methodof shaping to exact form by stretching the fulled or shrunk bat isalmost, if not quite, obviated.y

In hat-makingn the former is usually made to resemble two cones joinedbase to base, and each separate bat formed thereon is, after hardeningand shrinking', stretched to cause its open end to assume the properangular or radial position with reference to the body of the hat toserve as the brim. A brim produced by stretching the material aftershrinking it is liable, when Wet, to assume its original position; or,in other words, a wool hat formed on the usual cone is liable, when wet,to assume the conical shape that it possessed before it was stretched toproduce the brim.

In this invention the former is shaped to produce a WoolfY bat With aradial-base projectin g outwardly from the main or body part of the bat.This peculiar former is specially applicable for the production of batsfor boots and shoes and leggings, the radial base of the bat, accordingto the direction in which the Wool upon the former is cut, serving asthe foot and toe part of a boot or high shoe, or the brim of a hat, orthe lower part of a gaitertop or legging.

The invention consists, primarily, in a former provided with an annulusprojecting from its body in such direction, substantially as described,that a line extended from the highest part ofthe annulus to the body ofthe former, Where the annulus meets the body of the former, will form anobtuse angle With the body ofthe former, substantially as hereinafterset forth also, in a former provided at its center with an enlargedannulus, as just above described, and with its ends of greater diameterthan the body of the former at or near the annulus; also, in thecombination, witha former, of sectional sustaining-rollers, a portion oftheir surfaces being free to adapt their speed to the speed of movementof the former; also, in the bat herein described, as an article ofmanufacture, it being provided at its large end with a radial baseextended outwardly from the body part of the bat, to form the toe andfoot of a boot and shoe, or the brim of a hat, substantially asdescribed.

Figure l represents, in top View, a sufficient portion of a bat-formingmechanism to show one embodiment of this invention; Fig. 2, a rearelevation thereof Fig. 3, a detail of one plan for driving the main pairof rolls; Fig. 4, a different plan; Fig. 5, a view of a hatforming bat;Fig. 6, a view of a boot-forming bat; Fig. 7, a side elevation of thenovel former, and Fig. 8 a section taken through a shrunk hat-blank madeby this our method.

The main rollers a b have their bases 2 connected positively with theirshafts 3, suitably supported in adjustable bearings of frame e, and eachbase has a bevel-gear, 4, by which the main rollers are operated inunison in the same direction. One ofthe bevel-gears on the end of onebase-say the base of roller b-may be driven by means of a bevel-pinion,c, on a rotating shaft, d, carried by the swinging frame c, which alsocarries the bearings for all the rollers, such shaft being rotated inany usual way, the frame being oscillated as commonly done before thedoffer of a cardingengine, so as to change the axial presentation of theformer f, supported and rotated by the rolls of the frame e, so as towind the Wool web removed from the doffer from end to end of the former,each layer crossing the other.

The bevel-gear 4 on roller b may directly engage the bevel-gear like itupon the roller a, as in Fig. 3; or a separate bevel-pinion, g, drivenby the bevel-pinion c, may engage and drive the bevel-pinion 4 on theroller a. The shafts 3 of rollers a b are properly belted or geared withthe shafts h of the back rolls k l so that the surfaces ot all the rollsmove in the same direction. The surfaces of these rollers are made insections, as at 5 6 7, each section being loosely held upon theirshafts. The former fhas an enlarged central annulus, 8, which intersectsat 9 with the body 10 of the former each side the base of the annulus.The extreme ends 11 ofthe former may, for boots, be of larger diameterthan at the parts 1o, so as to give the necessary taper to the leg; butfor hats the body ot' the former may be cylindrical, or be somewhattapered toward its extreme ends, growing smaller toward such ends,

The greatest diameter of the former is at the annulus, and as thatportion moves more rapidly than does the body part ltnwe have hereinprovided to drive positively the part of great.- est diameter (theannulus) by the fixed parts or bases of the rollers; and the portionsofthe rollers bearing upon the body of thc former, or the wool being'wound thereon, from the base of the annulus to the ends of the former,are loose,l and adapt their surface-speed of movement to thesurface-speed of the former, or the wool thereon. This lays the batevenly, avoids strain, which would occur were the roller-surfaces allconnected and moved at the same speed from end to end, and enables theWool to be wound rnily and closely into the angle between the annulus 8andthe body 10.

The former, wound with wool to the required thickness, according to theweight of the boot, Shoe, or hat to be produced, has such wool rev movedas follows: For a hat, the wool will be cut on the line of the high partot the annulus, or substantially at right angles to the length of theformer, thereby producing a hatformiugbat, m, as in Fig. lt'a boot orshoe, legging or gaitentop is to be made, the wool is divideddiagonallyto thc axis of the former and across the annulus,substantiallyY as shown by the dotted lilies across Fig. 7, one of thebats n so formed being;r shown in Fig. o'.

1f the boot or shoe is to have a closed felt bottom, the large open endof the hat n will preferably be closed after hardening the main portionof the bat above or beyond such open end, as described in anotherapplication for patent filed by us concurrently with this, and the openend will be tinally closed upon a horn-like bed, also fully described inanother application tiled concurrently with this, after which it will beproperly shrunk and fulled and dried upon a last and made up. This batn, if hardened and not closed at the open end, may, after shrinking andfalling, be used as a seamless leg and foot for the manufacture of aboot, itbeingr supplied with a sole of leather or other material in anyusual way.

The bat m to form a hat has the base, or angular or radially-projectingportion 1f..ex tended from the body part 13. Such portion 12., afterbeing1 subjected to the hardeningand shrinking and fulling operations,will remain extended from the body in substantially the position thatsuch brim should occupy in the completed merchantable hat. Such a hatbrim by Wear will not; fall down out ot shape, as is commonly the casewith hats made from conical bats stretched at the larger ends, ashereinbefore described and as commonly made. A shrunken hat-body made asdescribed need not be put upon the usual stretching-machine, but, afterthe falling and surfacing operation, may be put directly into thefinishing-press. The formation ot' a hat with this radial or angularbase 12 is of great importance in the manufacture of boots and shoes,and the bat so produced for subsequent operations may become anarticle'of sale.

The rollers may be divided so as to present one or more loose sections.Figs. 5, 6, and 8 in the drawings are made upon a more reduced scalethan on the remaining igures. The base portions 16 1T ofthe rollers k lare fixed to the shafts Within them.

1. A former provided with an annulus projecting from its body in suchdirection, substantially as described, that a line extended from thehighest part of the annulus to the body ofthe former, where the annulusmeets the body of the former, will form an obtuse angle with the bodyofthe former, substantially as set forth.

2. A former provided with an enlarged central annulus, substantially asdescribed, and with ends of larger diameter than the body of the formernear the intersection of the annulus and body, substantially as setforth.

3. The combination, with a former, ot' sectional rollers to support androtate it, substantially as described.

4. The combination. with the former provided with the enlarged annulus,of supporting-rollers, certain portions of which next the annulus aredriven positively to rotate the former, while other portions are loosethereon, substantially as described.

5. As an article of manufacture, a wool bat; provided with a baseprojecting therefrom at its large end, substantially as described.

6. The herein-described method of manufacturing blanks for hollow feltedarticles, such as boots, shoes, and hats, consisting in iirst forming awool bat with a radial base projecting therefrom, and then hardening,falling, and shrinking such bat, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification inthe presence ot' two subscribing; witnesses.

ALFRED A. HAWLEY. ROBERT B. HAWLEY. 'itnesscs:

W. H. KEENE, F. G. SEYMOUR.

